Wednesday, July 27, 2011

I still love going and buying CD. Call me old-school but I burned a ton of CD's back in the day but I still have a tendency to listen to the ones I purchased. Maybe its a visual thing, or that I don't like looking through stacks of unordered CD's to find the one I want. When cassettes were the thing, I had hundreds of them and went out and got everyone from the bands I liked. When CD's became the norm, I did not have the $$$ to replace all those cassettes; so enter the likes of Napster. Fast forward a bunch of years and I am at a crossroads of the CD vs. Mp3 dilemma. I have decided that I have no interest in downloading mp3 from places like iTunes because I guess I still want the physical copy to do with what I want. There are times when I like to listen to things randomly on an mp3 player and there are those times when you want to here the entire CD from beginning to end. I realize that you can do that on an mp3 player as well but I have mine set to shuffle and it is a pain to change it while driving. Also, it goes back to the visual thing, I see Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and I just HAVE to hear the 2nd cd from front to back. I think many of you know what I am getting at here. The moral of the story is that I think the dilemma is over, I want to buy the CD's.

So what does this have to do with the title of this blog? Well, my wish list of CD's to purchase goes on forever partly because I am still finding new music I want and partly because I am slowly replacing many of the burned versions of CD's I have (like Rush and Jethro Tull). I rarely have a new cd to get when it first comes out except for Dream Theater but there are several cd's that I want to get right when they come out. But there are several coming out in the near future that I am excited to get. Here we go:

Symphony X – Iconoclast (June 2011); I just got this one. A 2-CD album of progressive metal. It was a bit of a disappointment only because many of the songs sound the same but a bad Symphony X is still better than anything you hear on the radio around here in Milwaukee. Here is song called Dehumanized form the new CD.

Dream Theater – A Dramatic Turn of Events (September, 2011); New drummer. That's I'll I have to say. But seriously, I hear the title track and Mike Mangini (the “new' Mike in the band:) is an amazing drummer and the track On The Backs of Angels sounds promising. It will be weird not to have Portnoy but I am a fan so I have to get it.

Adrenaline Mob – Self Titled; A “Supergroup” of sorts with Mike Portnoy (Ex-Dream Theater) on Drums, Russel Allen (Symphony X) and a few other guys from other bands. This could either really good or really bad depending on where I “expect” this album to be. I have read that this is NOT prog but hard rock. Here is a teaser of the tunes Russel Allen, for those of you who may not know Symphony X, has one of THE best voices out there. The range is incredible and he can do it live (I saw it:). We shall see.

Jane's Addiction – the Great Escape Artist (August, 2011). I make no apologies about being a huge fan of Jane's Addiction. They are just different and that makes them great. I love the last album (Strays) and look forward to hearing some new material. They have a video for "End to the Lies" on their website. Pretty cool.

That's what I have right now. Are there any albums that you are looking forward to purchasing in the near future when they come out? Please let me know.

Monday, July 18, 2011

While I am not the biggest fan of AC/DC (or this song for that matter; way overplayed), You Shook Me All Night Long does bring back a certain fond memory. When I was 15-16 years old, we used to go to place called Bailey's which for most of the week was a regular bar, but on one night, there was an under 18 night. Back then I had longer hair and wore the skin tight jeans with my leather jacket (it was the late 80's after all). I didn't drive, so my older friend Brian would get us there before it opened so we could get in the line and wait to get in. If you got there too late you did not get in. Once we were in we staked out a table and threw our stuff down and waited for the girls to fill in. The other thing that my older friend could get was beer so there several times we went there already buzzed up. Within an hour, the entire place was packed and things started to heat up. You heard the same songs every week but we didn't care, we thought we were cool for being in a bar. The place got so hot, all the mirrors on the wall fogged up and you would sweat like a pig. But the highlight of the night for us headbangers was when they placed You Shook Me All Night Long. It was one of only a handful of rock tunes they played all night and Brian and I would go up to the top part of the dancing stage and head bang with our mullets (oh yeah). There were usually only about 8-10 of us that did this so it was our little time to shine. Everyone else used it as a reason to take a break. By the end of the song my neck hurt pretty bad and took a few days to recover from but it was all worth it. We had a lot of fun at that place. It was one of only 2 places where teens could go to dance and have fun. It was eventually closed and was torn down to be replaced by a strip mall that does not fit in that space.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

I have switched the Tonal Memories blog to post from itself rather than from me personally. I meant to do this from the start but got a bit side-tracked at the time. So now I have a twttier account (@tonalmemories) and a Facebook account under Tonal Memories. I invite you to follow both of these in order to stay updated on the blog. Thank you.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

So this could have easily been one of my first posts but I figured I would wait until I got the blog off the ground a bit. These are MY favorite drummers so I am sure there will drummers that may be omitted and some wondering why (e.g. Lars Ulrich). So here it goes.

Neal Peart: the single most influential drummer in my drumming career. I have emulated his style for many years including adding things to my drum set such as a xylophone so I could play those parts from songs like Xanadu and A Farewell to Kings. I wore out 2 copies of A Farewell to Kings on cassette going over and over it. I am still in awe of his playing after all of these years. I am currently learning Jacobs Ladder which is no easy feat due to shifting time signatures. Some of my favorite songs to play include: Xanadu, A Farewell to Kings, Freewill, YYZ, 2112, Natural Science, By Tor and the Snow Dog, Marathon, Show Don't Tell, Something For Nothing, Subdivisions, Analog Kid, Spirit of the Radio, The Camera Eye, Fly By Night, Limelight, Red Barchetta, Distant Early Warning, Anthem, Beneath, Between, Behind, and The Weapon (to name a few).

Mike Portnoy: the second most influential drummer. After playing Peart for so many years I discovered Dream Theater and went from there. Portnoy is Peart on steroids. Lots of double bass which I really wanted to learn more of. Later, I was watching one of his instructional DVD's and finally began to understand how to play in odd time signatures. This made it easier to go back on many of those Rush songs I had for all those years and truly understand how to play through the parts by counting it out. Many of his parts are WAY too complicated to even start learning because I don't practice enough. Portnoy also has lots of side projects to glean drum parts from which makes him that much more versatile. Some of my favorite songs to play include: Under a Glass Moon, Panic Attack, Home, New Millennium, Burning My Soul, A Change of Seasons, This Dying Soul, As I Am, Pull Me Under, Metropolis Part 1 and The Test That Stumped Them All (to name a few).

Gavin Harrison: a relative new comer to my pantheon of drummers but is quickly becoming one of my favorites. His main gig right now is the drummer of Porcupine Tree. What makes Gavin so amazing is his fluidity even while playing difficult odd-time parts. He has a method he calls “overloading” that makes odd time almost danceable. He is a student of drums and is always perfecting his craft. One of the coolest things he does is doubles on both bass pedals (think John Bonham in Good Times Bad Times but with both feet), very cool. He has awesome chops but doesn't overplay the song which works for DT but not PT. Some of my favorite songs to play include: Halo, Bonnie the Cat and The Sound of Muzak (that is as far as I have gotten).

Jason Rullo: once I started playing prog and prog metal, Symphony X become one of my favorite bands. They just plain kick ass. Jason can play serious metal and sprinkle in some complicated odd time for good measure. I can only play certain songs that are not too fast (I am still working on my double bass speed). Some songs I enjoy playing include: Inferno (Unleash the Fire), Sea of Lies, Out of the Ashes and Serpent's Kiss. Kick Ass drummer.

John Bonham:One of my first drum idols; there is not much more you can say that hasn't been said. His shear power and ability to take a simple drum beat and make it sound like there are 2 drummers. I have played many of LZ songs over the yeas but it was not until recently I really came to appreciate Fool in the Rain from the In Through the Out Door album. It is a shuffle beat that sounds like total crap if the ghost notes are not there. I have taught myself a bit if the shuffle beat but I am still way behind what he did. Some of my favorite songs to play include: How Many More Times, In My Time of Dying, Achilles Last Stand, Sick Again, Poor Tom, We're Gonna Grove and Immigrant Song (to name just a few).

Ian Paice: In the very beginning I loved Deep Purple almost as much as I love Led Zeppelin (almost). However, much of Bonham's drum parts were too hard for me so I played Deep Purple. The only album I had by them for many years was Live: Made In Japan. To me it is THE best live album ever made. I played that entire album and loved Paice's chops. I can remember how happy I was when I finally got this little part during a slow section of Space Truckin'. I tried every song on that album except The Mule since it was a drum solo and I could not even fathom what he was playing at the time. The songs include: Highway Star, Child In Time, Space Truckin', Smoke on the Water (the best version ever), Strange Kind of Woman and Lazy.

Kieth Moon:by far the sloppiest drummer but a total manic with endless energy. His drum parts were essentially one long drum roll which played right into my style of playing (or overplaying as some have said; screw them :) He was a huge part of why The Who were so over the top and why I love them. I watched them perform in the Woodstock video and was just awestruck at the energy he had and his playfulness behind the kit. I always tried to emulate that in my playing. Some of my favorite songs to play include: Pinball Wizard, Baba O'Reilly, We Don't Get Fooled Again (one of my all-time favorites on the drums), Who Are You, Sparks and of course My Generation.

Dave Lombardo: while the drummer from Slayer never really had a direct impact on my playing, his style made me want to play metal. His double bass is stuff of legend and I only wish I could play like that. So other than the 2 songs, Dead Skin Mask and Seasons in the Abyss, I can't physically play most of his other stuff because it is too fast for me :(

Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow: Not a household name by any means but he is the phenomenal drummerfrom Jethro Tull in the 70's. I knew I liked prog fairly quickly and once I had my xylophone I could also play some Jethro Tull with it in there. Some songs I enjoyed playing include: Baker Street Muse, some of Thick as a Brick, Minstrel in the Gallery, Pibroch (Cap in Hand) , Heavy Horses, and No Lullaby.

Mitch Mitchell: another early influence, I loved Jimi Hendrix and much of it came from Mitch. He was more reserved than Keith Moon but had that wild side as well. Mitch also had a soft side which he was very good at in songs such as The Wind Cries Mary. Some of my favorite songs to play include: Voodoo Chile (Slight Return), Crosstown Traffic, Foxy Lady, Purple Haze, If 6 was 9, Third Stone from the Sun, and Spanish Castle Magic.

Danny Carey: another relative late comer to my drummer pantheon, the drummer from Tool is great. He is a master of polyrhythms and blending metal with mellow. Danny has a style that is very different than mine (he was trained) so he uses a lot of drum rudiments that I don't know. For that reason I really have only tried a few of there songs including: Forty 6 & 2, Sober, Hooker with a Penis, Parabola, and Lateralus.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

I was on vacation for a week so I am behind on my posts so I am going to try and make up for it this month a bit.

So that brings me to The Confessor by Joe Walsh. When I turned 13 in 1985 I got my first boom box. It was a little Toshiba with a cassette player and a radio. Even years later, when I had other radios, that little Toshiba always sounded great. But I digress. Once I got the radio I immediately started recording songs from the radio. That year was full of 80's songs that I would rather forget, but one of the popular songs on the rock station was The Confessor. I had heard Joe Walsh from my dad playing Funk #49 in bands for years. This song however was something special from the time it starts. Building keyboards and background sounds, then the acoustic comes in for a few bars and BAM, the guitar up stroke riff. Awesome stuff. The sound is a cross between blues guitar and a spaghetti western shootout theme. The phased drums add a nice touch to the overall sound. Granted this song would be very difficult to reproduce live, but doesn't matter, this song rocks. But to me the lyrics are the best part of the song, so here they are:

If you look at your reflection in the bottom of a well what you see is only on the surface
If you try to see the meaning hidden underneath the measure of the depth can be deceiving

The bottom has a rocky reputation

You can feel it in the distance the deeper down you stare
From up above it's hard to see, but you know when you're there
On the bottom words are shallow - on the surface talk is cheap
You can only judge the distance by the company you keep

In the eyes of the Confessor

In the eyes of the Confessor there's no place you can hide
You can't hide from the eyes
Don't you even try

In the eyes of the Confessor you can't tell a lie
You cannot tell a lie
Strip you down to size
Naked as the day that you were born
Naked as the day that you were born

Take all the trauma, drama, karma, guilt, and doubt, and shame
"What if's" and "if only's"; the shackles and the chains
Violence and aggression; the pettiness and scorn
The jealousy and hatred; the tempest and discord
And give it up!